The idea of a budget Ferrari may seem antithetical today when even a California starts at over $200k. But that was the idea behind the Dino line. You just wouldn’t know it necessarily from looking at this particular classic.

Named after Enzo Ferrari’s son, who died far too young at age 24, the Dino line was envisioned as something of a sub-brand for the Prancing Horse. Its mid-engined sports cars packed six- and eight-cylinder engines where the predominantly front-engined Ferraris employed twelve.

Examples of the 206 and 246 GT that were among the Dino line’s first products (and Maranello’s first road-going mid-engined models) have become highly sought-after among collectors, trading hands for higher and higher sums with each passing year. But this, as you might have guessed, was a rare beast entirely.

What you’re looking at is the 206 Berlinetta Speciale. It was designed and crafted by longtime coachbuilding partner Pininfarina as Ferrari’s first mid-engined prototype. It was based on a competition Dino 206S chassis, and was the last design overseen directly by founder Battista “Pinin” Farina before his death in 1966, and was received with such enthusiasm that old man Enzo barely had any choice but to put it into production (as the 206 GT), starting a line you could trace directly to today’s 488 GTB.

After the Automobile Club de l’Ouest dedicated the square outside its museum in Le Mans to Pinin Farina, his son and successor Sergio donated this concept to the museum’s collection. But when the organization fell on hard times, it had to sell the car in order to raise funds.

The Berlinetta Speciale emerged as the highlight of Artcurial’s auction this past weekend during the Rétromobile show in Paris. There it garnered a high bid of (and sold for) €4.4 million – equivalent to nearly $4.7 million at current exchange rates. Though still a far cry from the tens of millions some “proper” Ferraris have garnered at auction, the sum is hardly what you’d call “low-rent” by any stretch of the imagination.

Of course the Dino concept wasn’t the only lot on the docket at the auction. Among the other seven-figure classics sold were a 1948 Ferrari 166 Spyder Corsa ($3.1m), a ’72 Lamborghini Miura SV ($2.9m), a ’35 Bugatti Type 57 Atalante ($2.5m), an ’87 Porsche 959 ($1.2m), and a ’61 Mercedes 300 SL Roadster ($1.1m). All told, Artcurial sold 73 percent of the lots consigned for a total of $34 million.

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